ARTICLES ABOUT FINISHER BY DATE - PAGE 3

There's only one thing that matters when this draft concludes on Saturday, and the team's full bounty of draft picks are added up. Four years from now how many woulda, coulda, shoulda opportunities will the Miami Dolphins have to second-guess themselves? Or better yet, how many regrets will new General Manager Dennis Hickey be haunted by? Four years from now will Dolphins fans be moaning and groaning about not picking Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, just like they bellyached about passing on Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers?

It is a high school class project that will be part of Delray Beach for a long time to come. A group of hard-hat wearing students from Atlantic Community High now are touching up a three-bedroom, two-bath home that they took from permits to plaster. It took the 120 kids more than three years to finish the job - but they worked only about two hours every other day on it. Then it was off to math class. But their legacy is done now - and soon a family that could not have afforded a house like this will be calling it home.

A replacement fire-rescue station proposed for Hugh Taylor Birch State Park could produce an unrelated bonus for park visitors: places for them to grab something to eat or learn about the native ecosystem. Before that can happen, the city, state and a small struggling college in Ohio will have to reach agreement on the slowly moving plan. The beach station is one of three projects still remaining from a $40 million bond program approved by city voters in 2004 to build 10 new fire-rescue stations.

Miami Dolphins tight end Charles Clay, coming off a breakout season, said Tuesday the team has extra motivation after last year's collapse that kept them out of the playoffs for a fifth straight year. "I'm excited about not only what I can do, but the potential of this team," Clay told WQAM (560-AM). "Being so close last year only made us a lot more hungry. It left a real bad taste in a lot of guy's mouths. " The Dolphins (8-8) were eliminated from the playoffs in shocking fashion, losing their final two games to non-playoff teams.

Erik Spoelstra tried to caution about what was ahead, as coaches tend to do. Still, his words were difficult to digest going in, considering the Miami Heat had won their previous 16 games against the Charlotte Bobcats, considering the Bobcats entered without a playoff win in the franchise's 10 seasons, considering LeBron James had scored 61 points the last time the teams met. And then the Bobcats showed their revived defense is...

Veteran marathoner Randall "RJ" Simms broke with tradition when he landed in Boston on Friday. "You're supposed to wear your oldest jacket, the race jacket from your first Boston Marathon," said Simms, of Boca Raton . "But this year, everyone is wearing their 2013 jackets. It's a way to show our solidarity with the city. " When two bombs went off at the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing three spectators and maiming hundreds more, Simms and his wife Susie had a chilling vantage point.

Most discussions about the best big-school baseball programs in Palm Beach County generally begin with teams such as Jupiter, Palm Beach Central, Palm Beach Gardens, Park Vista and Wellington , all of which have established winning traditions over the past 15 years. West Boca Raton is making a case to be included in that mix. Since taking over the West Boca program four years ago, coach Nick Siano's teams have compiled an 84-24 record, including a state title in 2011.

It doesn't matter what species the members of Doing It All/Team Hard Way are fishing for, because if it has fins, they will figure out a way to catch it. Capt. Mark Lamb, Daryl Deka and Rick Burton won scores of bass tournaments on Lake Okeechobee before joining forces with Capt. Alex Burgess and taking up offshore tournament fishing in 2007. They won the Pompano Beach Fishing Rodeo in 2009 with the biggest fish, a 55.5-pound kingfish, and last year won the Rodeo's top boat title.

Some things never change. The Panthers horrific, league-worst special teams units paved the way for a 3-2 loss to the playoff-bound Blue Jackets on Saturday night at the BB&T Center to wrap up the season-ending homestand at 2-3 as well as their eighth straight defeat to Columbus. Excluding the two lockout-shortened seasons, the Panthers' 29-45-8 record and 66-point season ties for their third lowest point total in franchise history. The Panthers finished 26-36-4 under interim coach Peter Horachek, who took over for a fired Kevin Dineen on Nov. 8 after a 3-9-4 start.

WASHINGTON - Losing an early 5-0 lead Wednesday night stung the Marlins. Almost, but not quite as much as watching the late 7-6 cushion evaporate with the charge Jayson Werth put into a Carlos Marmol pitch. A hit batsman and bunt single coupled with a Derek Dietrich throwing error from third prompted the Marlins to intentionally walk Anthony Rendon with one out. Werth followed and deposited a 1-0 offering into the Marlins' bullpen beyond the left-field wall, sending the Nationals to a 10-7 win. "I was trying to go in and get a ground ball," Marmol said.